What No One Tells You About Building a Design System

It’s not just a library. It’s a product with stakeholders, politics, and—let’s be honest—a lot of headaches.

A well-crafted design system is a game-changer. It streamlines product development, enhances UI consistency, and bridges the gap between design and engineering. But building one? That’s a whole different story.

If you're thinking about implementing a design system at your company—or already knee-deep in it—here are the real challenges you're going to face, and how to get through them.

1. Picking the Right Tools Isn’t So Obvious

Most companies default to Figma, Sketch, or other visual design tools. They’re intuitive, easy to learn, and great for quick iteration.

But here's the catch: they’re still image-based.

That means interactive prototyping, component behaviors, and real-world dev handoff? Often limited. Teams try to patch this with plugins or custom workarounds—raising cost, increasing complexity, and slowing everyone down.

The dream: one toolchain to design, document, test, and build.
The reality: a patchwork quilt of tools and manual syncing.

Before you start, ask: What does “source of truth” actually mean for us—and can our tools support it?

2. Documentation Is a Full-Time Job

Let’s be honest. Keeping a design system up-to-date is hard. Keeping its documentation up-to-date? Even harder.

Yet documentation is key. Without it, guidelines get ignored, onboarding slows down, and design drift creeps in.

Some organizations rely on PDFs.

Others use Jira, Notion, or Miro boards. But few manage to build truly scalable, searchable, always-relevant documentation.

And here’s another twist: you’ll probably have multiple versions. One Figma file for designers. One Storybook instance for devs. Maybe even variations across brands, products, or teams.

Managing all that? You need a real plan—and a dedicated owner.

3. Governance Sounds Boring, But It’s Everything

Governance is how you scale a design system without chaos. But that word—governance—makes most designers yawn and most PMs nervous.

Here's why it matters: unless someone sets the rules for contribution, versioning, and rollout, your system will fragment before it matures.

You’ll also need C-level buy-in. That means showing not just what’s broken, but why it matters to the business.

One team demonstrated that reusable components cut delivery time by 57%.
Another used tech debt reduction to pitch system funding.

In short: don’t just ask for support. Build a case that speaks their language—time saved, bugs reduced, cost cut.

4. People Won’t Just Use It Because It’s Good

Even the most polished design system faces resistance.

Designers may already have their own workflows. Engineers may grumble about switching libraries.

And if you’re up against legacy components, inertia will win—unless you fight it like a product launch.

That means internal marketing.

Some ideas that work:

• Involve HR and DesignOps in change management

• Run onboarding workshops and design meetups

• Embed champions in teams to drive adoption

• Use Slack, Notion, email to make the system feel alive

• Hold regular update briefings to keep momentum

Think of your design system like a product. It needs evangelism, feedback loops, and roadmap visibility.

5. Design System Fatigue Is Real

Once the shiny new system is built, reality sets in: this thing needs constant care.

Unlike a product with a finish line, a design system evolves forever. Components break.

Guidelines go stale. Teams forget rules. Tools change.

This creates fatigue. People stop updating files. They revert to custom hacks. Worst of all, they stop trusting the system.

The solution?

Unify your processes.

The most mature teams treat design and development as one iterative loop, not a handoff.
No more static Figma mocks. No more guessing how a button works. Everything’s part of the same system—from pixels to production.

Final Thoughts: Design Systems Are Not Side Projects

They’re not just UI kits, or sets of rules, or tidy libraries on GitHub.

Design systems are complex, evolving, political infrastructures.

They require long-term investment, cross-functional alignment, and a vision that goes beyond aesthetics.

So if you're thinking of building one—go in with your eyes wide open.

And if you’re already in it? Keep building.

Keep educating. Keep proving its value. That’s how design systems move from side projects to strategic assets.